The purpose of this proposal is to seek support for the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP), which is held each April as part of the Experimental Biology (EB) convention. Planning has been largely finalized for the 2005 meeting, which will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, April 2-6. ASIP's annual meeting provides a unique forum for presentation and sharing of cutting-edge research in investigating pathology. The program comprises half-day symposia and workshops, lectures by award recipients, and abstract-driven minisymposia and poster sessions. It also includes two (2) full day symposia, each focused on a single topic of interest to a wide range of attendees. These "meetings-within-a-meeting" are designed to foster interactions between established investigators and more junior researchers. The target audience and subject matter for ASIP's annual meeting are diverse but united by a common focus on mechanisms of disease. As is traditional, the 2005 meeting includes strong components in inflammation, immunology, and infectious diseases. ASIP's annual meeting also fosters career development of trainee and young investigators through special events designed for their needs and sessions that showcase their work. The program further provides a number of education initiatives, both targeted and of interest to the biomedical research community as a whole. The specific goals that this application intends to foster are: 1) to convene an internationally recognized group of investigators to present cutting-edge research and educational sessions of interest to ASIP members, members of guest societies, and attendees of EB; and 2) to promote the participation of junior investigators through expansion of travel award and mentoring programs and provision of special sessions targeted to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and clinical residents in pathology.